


Hi, I'm a thief and here to steal your heart

by TimeTravelFreak



Series: One Day Is Not Enough [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Boys Kissing, Erejean Week, Love Confessions, M/M, but eren does all the hard work, eren is in love, jean has bad luck in dating, jean uses a pick up line, just a cute one-shot, not sure whether this counts as flirting, open end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-01
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-17 20:44:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1401832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeTravelFreak/pseuds/TimeTravelFreak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erejean week</p><p>Day 1: Flirting</p><p>Boys being dumb and oblivious respectively (though Jean is both).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hi, I'm a thief and here to steal your heart

**Author's Note:**

> I just found out that it's Erejean week and couldn't resist writing this. College AU.

The thing was, Jean was the most attractive when he wasn't trying to impress anyone. Eren had known about that since he had first met the other boy and had only been proven right over the years. Well, to be more precise, he had known about it since Mikasa had first met the other boy and left him blushing and spluttering and falling all over himself trying to impress her.

Which hadn't worked at all, but that was a story for another day.

Even after he had – tentatively – gotten over the dark haired girl, whenever he fell in love, things tended to go wrong for Jean. In the brown haired boy's head, he had a picture of what a perfect boyfriend should be and strived to imitate it, but that wasn't who he really was.

He started to dress up, tried to do things with his hair, tried to find new hobbies or accomplishments to impress his lover to be, tried to be polite and well-spoken and well-mannered and tried to be flirtatious with them. And most of the time he crashed and burned, if not at the first date, then at the second.

Because that wasn't who he was.

Jean usually took care of his appearance – as proven by his undercut, which he made sure was in perfect condition by having Marco play hairdresser every other week. But he also had days where he rolled out of bed, barely took the time to brush his teeth and went to classes in a hooded shirt so big and old it could have belonged to his grandfather, a pair of jeans splattered with paint and covered in other stains – which Eren didn't even want to try to identify – and a pair of glasses, a little too big for his slender face and which kept sliding down his nose.

Jean could be polite, but usually he was brash and honest to a point where he came off as harsh and that made people think that he was deliberately rude. Most people didn't realise that, while Jean was incredibly upfront when criticising someone, he was equally quick to praise them. 

If there was one thing which Eren had come to appreciate about the other boy, it was that he had no trouble criticising his friends and lovers and praising his enemies. It sounded strange when put that way, but it was oddly reassuring to have someone nearby who wouldn't hesitate to tell you when you were being an idiot or when you were hurting someone or doing some other shit.

It had taken time for Eren to learn that, especially considering the hostility between the two caused by Jean's crush on Mikasa, but once he had, he could tell that he wasn't the only one who thought that way. He had always been puzzled by Marco's and Jean's friendship, until he had listened to them talk one time and realised that, as honest as Jean was, he also expected his opposite not to lie to him. He didn't mind criticism or harsh words, as long as they were honest and not said purely out of spite – and even if they were, if there was even a grain of truth in them, he would consider it once he had calmed down.

So while Jean had built up this picture of a perfect boyfriend in his head, he had a lot of trouble actually acting like it. He wasn't bad at making a good impression and the first few times meeting the person he wanted to impress were alright too, but he wasn't made to be an actor.

He was too honest, too straightforward and too much himself for him to ever be someone he wasn't.

“It's not that I'm trying to turn into a different person,” he had explained to Eren once, tipsy and heartbroken after his latest boyfriend had broken up with him. “I just want to make them comfortable and happy.” He had stared miserably at his knees. “But it always goes wrong somehow.” 

Eren had swallowed his reply down with a mouthful of beer, had bitten his lips so he wouldn't tell Jean that there was nothing wrong about being himself, that there were people who depended on him being a straightforward asshole. 

That Eren found nothing more adorable that Jean's hair sticking up into all directions because he couldn't be bothered to brush it in the morning, that the sight of glasses sitting on the straight bridge of his nose sent a rush of heat down to his core, that he liked it when Jean told him to cut the crap and get his head out of his ass, that he loved nothing more than fighting with the brown haired boy just to see the heat and intensity in his eyes.

Instead of saying all that, he just bumped their shoulders together and let Jean get it out of his system.

He had thought that things would always continue like that, until Jean's current girlfriend treated him so badly that Eren had felt something snap inside of him.

Now he could feel hands grabbing at his arms, though he didn't know whether they were trying to push him away or pull him closer. The slender body he was pressing against the wall twisted beneath his own as he pinned it down, the carefully groomed hair finally being tousled by his own fingers, the strands soft against his skin. The lips Jean had been biting to keep himself from saying something harsh about his date were soft beneath his own, warm and moist and vulnerable in surprise and they sent sparks of electricity down Eren's back, goosebumps rising on the skin of his arms.

It was with a soft moan that he finally separated their mouths and the look on Jean's face, as soft and vulnerable as his lips had been, sent a rush of heat through his body. He leaned in again, desperate to be close again, when the taller boy finally snapped out of his daze and pushed against his shoulder, blushing hotly all the while.

“What the fuck are you doing?!”

With a frustrated growl Eren let go of Jean's hair and instead gripped his hips, watching as the blush on the other's face spread down his neck to the collar of the ridiculously proper button down shirt he was wearing.

“I hate it! I've been watching you try to be someone else for ages and you never learn when it doesn't work and I'm sick of you being hurt because of it! I know you can't stand me, but please! I love you.” His voice cracked, growing softer. “So don't hurt yourself like this anymore.”

Jean's eyes were wide, his kiss-swollen lips parted as he tried to digest what Eren was telling him.

“You-”

As if he was on fire Eren let go and backed away, not ready to hear the answer to his little impromptu speech just yet.  
Jean's eyes followed him, but he made no move to stop him from leaving.

  


It was a few days later that the doorbell to his apartment rang. 

Eren had been holed up there since he had crashed Jean's date – and what had happened to the girl anyway? He had completely lost track of her after grabbing Jean by the shoulder and pushing him against the wall.

He hadn't heard anything from Jean or his friends, all of them leaving him alone and Eren knew in his gut that that couldn't be a good sign, mortified by having confessed his feelings to Jean in such a way.

But he still couldn't stop thinking about those soft lips against his own, the taste and shape of them seared into his memory, just like the feeling of soft, sandy brown hair sliding through his fingers.

Along that, he also remembered the look on Jean's face after Eren had yelled at him, vulnerability mixing with confusion and he was glad he had left when he had. If he hadn't, he probably would have done something they would both have regretted in the middle of a street.

Scratch that, he already had done something they both regretted in the middle of the street.

Still thinking about that, the last person he had expected to see on his doorstep had been Jean himself.

They were both just standing there, Eren in his comfort-flannel pyjamas and Jean...

Jean was wearing his glasses, his hair tousled, dark rings beneath his eyes, wearing an old, faded, grey sweater and a pair of jeans so ratty even Eren would have thrown them away by now.

He looked like he hadn't slept in a week.

He looked gorgeous.

He looked nervous as hell and Eren could feel his heart start to race.

In the end Jean cleared his throat and spoke.

“Your legs must be tired because you've been running through my mind all week.”

Eren stared.

Then he broke into helpless laughter, having to prop himself up against the door frame to keep standing.

Jean glared at him, his face flushing and Eren quickly grabbed his shoulders to pull him inside the apartment, still laughing but less nervous now.

Maybe things would be alright.


End file.
